The Rug Doctor certainly does a good job and based on the color of the water its sucking up, it gets a TON of dirt out of my carpets. There are still some spots that it can't get out, though, and if you have small, sticky spots on your carpet best to just pick them out with your fingernails. The hand brush is great for stairs and for focusing on bad spots in the carpet while conserving cleaning solution. I also have the floor attachment and find it to be pretty good for cleaning tile floors, but leaves a bit to be desired on the grout. Overall I'm pleased with the Rug Doctor and it has really cleaned up my floors, but they don't quite look "like new" and for the toughest stains on carpet and grout, an alternate cleaning method is needed.